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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

#VancityMemberDay at The #PNE + a #Giveaway

It's August in Vancouver, which means it's almost time for one of our annual family traditions: going to the PNE for Vancity Member Day! The tradition started in 2010, just after Sprout was born & we've been every year since. We could go on any of the days that The Fair is open, but Vancity Member Day is special--here's why:

Vancity Member Day

Each year, during The Fair, a special day is designated as Vancity Member Day. This year it's on Thursday August 29, 2013. Members & a guest can celebrate being a part of Vancity & enjoy discounted admission to The Fair: just $5 each (a savings of $15 each). (Psst: RSVP & tell your friends on Facebook here on the Vancity Member Day Event Page)

A Greener Day at The Fair

Vancity is always looking for ways to make our region greener & supporting local initiatives that do just that. This year, Vancity will “Cowpower” all the electricity consumed at The Fair on Vancity day, i.e. by supporting Cowpower our dollars go to enabling local farmers to install biodigesters on their farms to process cow manure to make electricity (& it also make a digestate that is a high nutrient natural soil amendment that farmers can spread on their fields).

BYOB--Bring your own water bottle!

A drinking-water station will also be made available on Member Day, to encourage visitors to use re-usable water bottles for the day. The water station will be provided by Metro Vancouver.

Eco Alley

Eco Alley is an engaging activation area in a green zone area of The Fair that will showcase the Fair’s current green initiatives with a strong focus on recycling & composting, engaging visitors in generating new ideas & proposing additional ways the PNE can “go green.”

The area, highlighted by a 20x20 activity tent & a 10x10 composting tent, will feature a number of activities centered around recycling, composting & transportation for attendees to participate in:

Eco-enga Enviro Trivia Game – We’ve designed a life-sized Jenga game specifically for PNE 2013. The traditional Jenga game is given a “green twist,” as each block offers attendees a chance to answer enviro trivia for a slew of fun prizes.

Feature Ideas Wall – We want to engage attendees & solicit their feedback on how the PNE can further green their operations, so we’ve built a dry-erase ideas wall that will elicit attendees to write their ideas around water, waste & energy.

Commuter Survey – we’ll have a survey wall asking attendees to pinpoint where they commuted from & their method of transportation. Along with the survey, we’ll be offering tips on how they can further green their commute.

Onsite Commercial Scale-Composting Demonstration - A commercial composter will process food scraps from PNE food vendors & will be adjacent to small food gardens (planted by students from local schools) sharing the message of “Fork-to-farm” & how food scraps can be digested into nutrients to help our soil grow food. The composter will be provided by Recycling Alternative, a proud Vancity community partner who provides eco-solutions to communities around the Lower Mainland.

“Silver Dragon” In-home composter Display – A composter designed for residential use called, “The Silver Dragon,” will also be on display for visitors to learn more about how they can add composting to their lifestyle.

Make Good Money Photo – Vancity has also prepared a social media component, where visitors are encouraged to share their ideas on how to build a healthy community, snap a photo with their idea written on one of our exclusive social media blocks & share the photo with their social media networks.

By the entrance of the PNE Main gates, Vancity is also providing a free valet bike service for PNE visitors, providing secure bicycle storage & a chance to win a green prize pack for users of the valet.

Win this stuff & have some clean, green fun!

I did promise a giveaway too, didn't I? :) Here are the details. Vancity will send one lucky winner a gift pack (worth over $200) which includes:

Enter to win in the Rafflecopter widget below. You can increase
your chances by doing as many of the options as possible: tweeting about
the contest (you can do this daily if you want more chances to win!),
following me or Vancity on Twitter, following me or Vancity on Facebook
& leaving a comment about your favourite part of the PNE. Please
don't forget to do the action & click 'I did it' on Rafflecopter
so your entry is valid. If you're not sure, email me!
lisa.corriveauATgmail.com :)

I'll
choose a winner in a week (well, the random number generator will,
actually), just after midnight on Wednesday, August 21. I'll post the winner's name
on the widget & notify them by email. If you've won, you'll have
48 hours to respond to my email or I'll ask Mr. Rafflecopter to choose
another winner... :) Good luck!

Going to the PNE was always pretty memorable for me because we didn't live in the Lower Mainland until I was in high school & also because my birthday falls during the Fair. I was the only person I knew who got to go to the PNE for their birthday. :)

I'm so with you on the mini-doughnuts. I think I might just get a whole bag for myself this year--eating for two, right? ;)

There's definitely a buzz on Vancity Members Day--it's like a hive of bees! As long as you go with the expectation that it'll be busy (& the patience to scope out the shorter line-ups at the mini doughnut places farther from the entrance) it's great fun!